by Kiki Swinson
Also by Kiki Swinson and Saundra
Schemes
Also by Kiki Swinson
Playing Dirty
Notorious
Wifey
I’m Still Wifey
Life After Wifey
Still Wifey Material
The Candy Shop
Still Candy Shopping
A Sticky Situation
Wife Extraordinaire
Wife Extraordinaire Returns
Cheaper to Keep Her series
The Score
The Mark
Anthologies
Sleeping with the Enemy (with Wahida Clark)
Heist and Heist 2 (with De’nesha Diamond)
Lifestyles of the Rich and Shameless (with Noire)
A Gangster and a Gentleman (with De’nesha Diamond)
Most Wanted (with Nikki Turner)
Still Candy Shopping (with Amaleka McCall)
Fistful of Benjamins (with De’nesha Diamond)
Also by Saundra
Her Sweetest Revenge Series
Her Sweetest Revenge 1, 2, 3
Published by Kensington Publishing Corp.
KIKI SWINSON
dirty tricks
SAUNDRA
KENSINGTON PUBLISHING CORP.
www.kensingtonbooks.com
All copyrighted material within is Attributor Protected.
To the extent that the image or images on the cover of this book depict a person or persons, such person or persons are merely models, and are not intended to portray any character or characters featured in the book.
DAFINA BOOKS are published by
Kensington Publishing Corp.
119 West 40th Street
New York, NY 10018
Dirty Tricks copyright © 2017 by Kensington Publishing Corp.
Stay Scheming © 2017 by Kiki Swinson
Who Can You Trust? © by Saundra
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.
Dafina and the Dafina logo Reg. U.S. Pat. & TM Off.
ISBN: 978-1-6177-3945-3
eISBN-13: 978-1-61773-946-0
eISBN-10: 1-61773-946-4
First Kensington Electronic Edition: September 2017
Table of Contents
Also by Kiki Swinson and Saundra
Title Page
Copyright Page
STAY SCHEMING - Kiki Swinson
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER 1 - LUCKY TO BE ALIVE
CHAPTER 2 - SECOND CHANCES
CHAPTER 3 - UNLUCKY START
CHAPTER 4 - ON THE MOVE
CHAPTER 5 - IT WAS 1999
CHAPTER 6 - WITNESS PROTECTION
CHAPTER 7 - SECRETS WILL BE REVEALED
CHAPTER 8 - FAMILY TIES
CHAPTER 9 - IT’S EITHER MOTIVATION OR DESPERATION
CHAPTER 10 - SETTING THINGS UP ONCE AND FOR ALL
CHAPTER 11 - GETTING RID OF THE DEAD WEIGHT
CHAPTER 12 - THE BEST LAID PLANS
CHAPTER 13 - THE DOUBLE CROSS
CHAPTER 14 - LET’S TALK ABOUT FREEDOM
CHAPTER 15 - THE REAL DEVIL IN SHEEP’S CLOTHING
WHO CAN YOU TRUST? - Saundra
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
Teaser chapter
Teaser chapter
STAY SCHEMING
Kiki Swinson
PROLOGUE
“Shit. Not again,” I mumbled under my breath as sweat beads as big as raindrops ran a race down my forehead and dripped into my eyes. I tried to blink them away as quickly as possible to keep my burning eyes from being closed too long. No second could be spared. I couldn’t afford to take my eyes off the piece-of-shit traitor in front of me. I am not sure if it was the anger or the shock or both that had my knees knocking together, but whatever it was, my entire body trembled like a leaf in a wild storm. My heart thrummed so hard I felt like it was sitting outside my chest. I sucked in my breath and squinted. My nostrils flared on their own.
Be tough, Karlie. You’ve been through worse, I told myself. I had certainly been through some shit over the past six months. My life had always been full of challenges, though. Nothing ever came easy for Karlie Houston. Not even childhood, when shit is supposed to be carefree and fun. I can’t remember a time in my life that was free of cares, worries, drama, and just plain old bullshit.
I sometimes wondered why God was punishing me all the time. Abuse, poverty, death, and destruction were the words that summed up my existence.
“I’m not playing with you.” I had finally found my voice. But I was immediately mad at myself because my voice was trembling like a scared child, and I couldn’t make it stop. I could see the amusement light up his ugly face.
“Oh, you think it’s funny? You must think I’m some punk bitch. But I’m telling you now, I will do it. I swear to everything I have left and everything I ever loved . . . I will do it. I don’t have shit else to lose,” I said through my teeth. That was the truth as plain as I could say it. I had nothing left to lose.
The muscles in my arms burned as I kept them extended in front of me, elbows locked, grip tight. The bastard shook his head dismissively and smirked at me like he didn’t take me seriously at all.
“What? What you gon’ do?” He chuckled evilly. All that was left was for him to stick his tongue out at me, stick his thumbs in his ears, and twist his hands like kids do when they tease each other. Fire flashed in my chest. I had never taken too kindly to being teased.
“Watch and see,” I said, shifting on my feet.
“You ain’t gon’ do shit, that’s what. You all talk. You always did think you were smarter than everyone else around you . . . family and friends. Somebody must’ve lied to your ass, little girl. I’m not one of those simple-minded niggas you can game into doing your dirty work or get over on. You might have had some of those lames by the balls, but me, I’m one step ahead of your ass. You think I don’t know how you tried to set me up? Huh?” he spat, with his face curling into the most evil snarl I’d ever seen. If I didn’t know better, I would’ve thought I was standing face-to-face with Lucifer himself.
“I never liked you, Karlie. All these years, there was always something grimy about you, your trashy-ass mother, and that little bitch sister of yours that I didn’t like.”
He was still speaking, but suddenly I couldn’t hear him anymore. Did he just mention my sister? Did he just go there? He knew that was a sore topic for me.
My nostrils flared and I swallowed hard. How fucking dare he say something about Miley? I had always been fiercely protective of my sister, but now, I felt more of a need to defend her name and her honor.
“Shut the fuck up about her,” I growled almost breathlessly. “Don’t you ever say anything out of your rotten-ass mouth about my sister. You bitch-ass nigga. I swear I will blow your ass away. I don’t care who you are.”
I could feel my chest heaving. My jaw rocked feverishly as I tried to hold on to my composure. I didn’t want any more bloodshed. I really didn’t. That was the only reason he was still alive. I was tired of death and destruction around me. But that didn’t mean that I wouldn’t do what I had to do. Especially if it meant the difference between me coming out of this alive or him leaving in a body bag.
“Oh, does
the truth hurt?” he snarled. “You don’t like anyone to tell you the truth? You don’t like to hear that you and your sister were two scandalous bitches that got everything y’all deserved? From the time y’all were kids doing sneaky shit to get over, stealing money, stealing food, I knew y’all would grow up to be just like your mother . . . a piece of shit.”
“Shut up,” I said in an eerily calm voice. My voice completely contradicted the raging inferno burning inside me. I don’t know why I was so calm, and that scared me more than he did.
Unlike mine, his extended arm didn’t waver or shake. His aim was steady. Sure. Purposeful.
“Nah, I’m going to tell it. You don’t think y’all got what was coming after years of scandal?”
I swallowed hard again, but the lump in my throat just wouldn’t go away. I shifted my weight from one foot to the other. I was going to have to kill this nigga. I could feel it all down in my bones. It was going to be him or me.
“All I want is for you to leave. We can call it fair. You did some shit and I did some shit. It’s a draw. You walk away, I walk away. End this. Nobody has to get hurt. Ain’t nothing else to prove.” I still spoke calmly, another last-ditch effort to end this shit without death. My insides were going so crazy—churning stomach, racing heart. I felt like I’d throw up any minute. This wasn’t my first time facing down death, but that didn’t make it easy to deal with. I had watched everything and everyone around me get destroyed. Suddenly my sister Miley’s face flashed through my mind. Her sweet smile. Her laughter. Even her annoying nagging when she was being spoiled.
I could also hear my boyfriend Sidney’s voice in my ear . . . I love you, baby. Just be careful. Let me take care of you. He used to say that all of the time.
I felt my knees buckle a little bit. If I could have just lain down and curled into a ball and cried for hours, I would have. Some people would say what was happening at the moment was karma for some of the things I’d done in my lifetime, but I say fuck karma—everything that happened and what was happening now was because of evil motherfuckers like the one I was standing in front of at the moment. I had learned the hard way that evil exists in human form, and I was surrounded by it. I was confronted by it. It was a part of my own family. And I was going to either destroy it or be destroyed by it.
“So what’s it gonna be, Karlie? Giving up?” he asked, his gun pointing right at my forehead.
“Hmph,” I scoffed and bit down hard into my bottom lip. I adjusted my grip on my gun, which was now pointing directly at his heart. “Nigga, please. You better give up. You better try and end this if you know what’s good for you.”
He shook his head.
It was a standoff. A duel. A draw. One thing was for sure, at least one of us was not going to walk away from this.
“End this? Nah, baby girl. You can’t start some shit and then think you can just end it. See, in the streets and in life, when you start something, you ain’t got no choice but to see it through,” he replied. Then he cocked the hammer on his gun.
“A’ight. Suit yourself, motherfucker,” I spat, sliding my right pointer finger into the trigger guard of my Glock. He laughed again, an evil cackling laugh that caused tight goose bumps to crop up on my body.
“I’ll see you in hell, bi—” he started to say. That was enough . . .
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
I fell backward. My ears were ringing. Neither one of us uttered another word. The smell of the gunpowder immediately settled at the back of my throat. I coughed. I gurgled. I was suddenly freezing cold and then hot again. I couldn’t breathe.
How did it all come to this? Why? Why me?
That was the last thing I remember thinking before the darkness engulfed me.
CHAPTER 1
LUCKY TO BE ALIVE
Three Months Earlier
“No! Please!” I begged, gagging from the mixture of snot and blood running over my lips and into my mouth. The salt from my tears stung the open wounds on my bottom lip. But that was the least of my pain. Another slap across the face almost snapped my neck from my shoulders. The hit landed with so much force, blood and spit shot from between my lips and splattered on my assailant’s crisp white shirt. I wasn’t going to escape this assault. That much was clear.
“Just let her go. It’s my fault,” I groaned through my swollen lips. “Please. She didn’t do anything wrong. It was all me. I swear,” I rasped, barely able to get enough air into my lungs to get the words out.
“Oh yeah? It was your fault? Well, look at what you’ve done,” he growled evilly. “Just look!” He grabbed my face and forced me to watch again.
“Agggh!”
Miley let out another pain-filled scream. I could hear another crackling round of electric shocks rocking through her body. It sounded like the sizzle, crackle, and pop of the mosquito light in my uncle’s backyard cooking the little nuisance bugs when we were kids. I couldn’t even stand to look over at my baby sister’s naked body, dangling like a captured animal. They had Miley’s arms extended over her head and her wrists bound to a thick silver pipe that ran across the warehouse ceiling. Her face was covered in a mix of tears, snot, and blood. Her hair was soaked with sweat and matted to her head. I could see tracks of electricity burn marks running up and down her stomach and extending down her thighs. I knew then that even if by some miracle we made it out of this shit, Miley would never be the same again. I sobbed at the sight and at the thought. It was my greed that had landed us here. It was my need to prove a point to the world. A world that didn’t give two fucks about me or what I had anyway. More skin-searing sizzles interrupted my thoughts. More screams from my sister sent my emotions over the top.
“Miley!” I screeched until my throat burned. I strained against the restraints that held me to the cold metal chair. “Miley! I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! I’m sorry! Miley!”
“Karlie. Karlie, wake up!”
“I’m sorry, Miley!” I screamed as I jumped out of my sleep and whipped my head around frantically. My chest pumped up and down so fast I had to cough to catch my breath. My eyes slowly began to focus and I took in my sister’s face. The scars on her left cheek and the healing gash over her right eye brought me back to reality. Miley had been through a terrible ordeal, but she had survived.
“Hey. Hey. You were dreaming,” Miley said softly, concern creasing her face.
“Oh my God,” I gasped, placing my hand on my chest. I looked around my hospital room again to make sure I was really dreaming. The nightmares of our experience were relentless. They came every night. I couldn’t close my eyes without thinking about what had happened to us. It was the reason we were holed up in the hospital now. A near-death experience was an understatement.
“I’m right here. What are you saying sorry about?” Miley said, touching my hand gently. “We are here together. I thought you would be excited that they moved me to your room. That means I’m much better. No more ICU, no more close monitoring. I am on the mend, big sis. That’s good news,” she continued.
I finally relaxed against the pillows on my bed. She was right. It was good news. I looked at the remnants of the cuts and bruises on my sister’s face and the sling that still held her arm and sighed loudly. Of course the guilt came crashing back down on me. It was a miracle Miley was alive after the torture she’d endured. I’d always known my sister was strong, but now I knew for sure she was a fighter . . . a damn warrior.
“I’m happy you’re here, Miley. We are lucky to be alive, and I’m actually overjoyed you’re right here with me,” I assured her, parting a weak smile.
“Good, because I came to get on your nerves as usual. I will be right up your butt until they let us out of here,” she joked, limping over to the other bed. I let out a halfhearted chuckle, but deep down inside I was still dealing with my guilt over what had happened to her. It had been my idea to set up the EZ Cash payday loan store I worked at to be robbed. At the time, with our bills mounting, no prospects of getting any real money, and ex
posure to all of that cash on a daily basis, it seemed like a foolproof, solid plan that would net us enough cash to pay off some of our debts and get us straight for at least a little while.
At first, the robbery planning and execution had seemed to go smoothly. Miley and I had insider information about the stores, the operation times, the safes, the surveillance cameras; all of the necessary things a stickup crew would need to know. I also thought then that my boyfriend Sidney and his crew were the right dudes for the job. Boy, was I wrong.
Too bad I didn’t find out until much later. With my help, Sidney and his friends had actually pulled off the perfect heist. We had stolen enough cash to do everybody involved a world of good. But you know what they say, right? What can go wrong, will go wrong. Oh yeah, the part that I planned—the robbery—went down smoothly. Well, I mean as smoothly as a robbery could go. It was the aftermath that went awry.
The whole crew counted up the money afterward and decided as a group we would fall back from spending it until the police heat after the heist died down. We decided to stash the money in different places. Smart, right?
I thought so until things slowly began to fall apart. “No honor amongst thieves” is an understatement. First, each one of Sidney’s friends started popping up dead. Somehow, their identities were made known. I thought it was their stupid bragging, but then again, nothing was as it seemed at that time. I do know their murders scared the living shit out of me and Miley.
Next, Miley and I were kidnapped and beaten almost to death. Then my sister and I were miraculously saved by a detective who we had thought of as the bane of our existence during the whole time we were hiding the money, but who turned out in the end to be our savior. Truthfully, I am shocked that we are both alive. When I arrived at the hospital, I was told they didn’t think my sister would make it. I was in bad shape myself, but I prayed and prayed to God that my sister’s life be spared. My prayers had been answered. Weeks later and here we are . . . alive. Still a little beat up, but alive nonetheless.
